The Irish Renaissance, 1890–1940: drama in English

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521822237.006

4 - The Irish Renaissance, 1890–1940: drama in English

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Adrian Frazier

Edited by

Margaret Kelleher and

Philip O'Leary

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Margaret Kelleher: Affiliation:
National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Philip O'Leary: Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts

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Summary

Myths of origin

Histories of the drama of the ‘Irish Renaissance’ usually do not begin in 1890; they begin instead in the summer of 1897. Following signposts in memoirs by W. B. Yeats and Augusta Gregory, scholars often date the conception of modern Irish drama to a conversation between these two held in a land agent’s office on the seaside Galway property of a landlord with the storybook name, Count Florimande de Basterot. As the rain fell outside, 32-year-old Yeats spoke to 45-year-old widowed Lady Gregory of his long-held wish for an Irish theatre in which the plays he and her neighbour Edward Martyn had written could be performed. But what was the use? No professional theatre in Dublin would take them; a sufficient audience could not be found for them; and who would subsidise such unpopular performances? Lady Gregory took the bait, and asked how much was needed. £300 for one week of performances. She thought that such a sum might be raised by a public-spirited appeal to people of wealth and position in Ireland, many of whom she herself knew. To start the fund, she donated £25 of her own money.

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Irish Literature , pp. 181 - 225

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521822237.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2006

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